Cale Tyson spent his salad days in Nashville among the honky-tonks and bars of lower Broadway and East Nashville, playing countless late-night gigs where he served up a cocktail of country covers and originals steeped in the stylings of the old masters.

But Tyson was never a country boy at heart despite his Texas pedigree. He fell in love with country music during his years at Belmont University, and learned to communicate three chords and the truth from his own pen with an adroit hand.

Having grown up on punk, metal and Bright Eyes, Tyson soon felt the urge to expand his palette beyond country. Without fully abandoning the high lonesome sound he spent years honing, he found his way inching toward a more “soul” vibe, which found full expression in his forthcoming album Careless Soul, a project he recorded in Muscle Shoals that features guest turns from Swampers bassist David Hood and Nashville’s Caitlin Rose, among others.